The Transformers Legacy line is now well underway, with teases coming from Hasbro and the overseas collecting groups regarding things to look forward to in the future. I've been kind of... indifferent to most of the product that has been offered so far. There's something about them that make me just want to sink more money into MP level stuff rather than mainline.
Having said that, sometimes all it takes is a prettier paint job to get me interested in something that I'd normally not consider.
There is a subline in the Legacy product known as the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection, which appears to be a gathering of repainted/redecoed Legacy figure with a sprinkling of new moulds. For us here in Canada (and the USA), these figures are generally only available from Walmart, though as always your mileage will vary. One of the exclusives is a redeco of the Laser Prime set as Scourge from the 2000 Robots in Disguise series, which was the resurgence of Transformers for me, with a nice blend of fantastic new toys and repurposing of classic toys.
Like the Legacy version, the Robots in Disguise toy itself was also a redeco of the classic Laser Prime G2 toy, albeit without electronics... or at least for us who had to buy it from Toys R Us. I think the Car Robots version still had its electronics intact.
So the Leader class figures are around $73 CAD plus taxes. One of the more disappointing trends is that in some instances, there really isn't much with this size of release that makes it worthy of the price point, consisting mainly of a Voyager sized figure and some extra parts. Scourge here is marginally better than some of the other ones in that at least the extra parts are somewhat warranted (the trailer) but you can see minimal effort was put into making it worthwhile... I mean, who has a trailer that is basically the same size as the cab?
On the plus side, at least this version didn't cost any more than the standard one.
In addition to the main figure and the trailer, you get the same two weapons as the Laser Prime release - the weird Energon Axe, along with a Sword. The black blaster is a gun that attaches to the top of the trailer. The sword and axe can be combined into a larger sword, but I'll be honest... it looks dumb.
Going in, I pretty much was aware of all of the short comings of the design. Small stature and just terrible shoulder design (due to the shoulder pads) were pretty much on the top of the list. Articulation isn't bad per se - it's about what you'd expect for a Voyager sized figure, including ankle tilts and a waist.
I wasn't, however, anticipating tabbing issues on the abdomen.
Having said that, there's just something really great about this colour scheme that I pretty much had to get it.
Compared to the original toy, robot mode is about the same height, though the cab mode of the G2 toy is significantly larger, and the trailer (which I didn't photograph) dwarfs the Legacy version. Aesthetically, though, I have to give the nod to the newer toy, and of course articulation wise the new one does have a few more tricks up its sleeve, though they both have those huge shoulder pads.
Naturally, there are various carry over features from the Laser Prime Legacy toy. You get the Matrix of... I don't know what in this instance, but it's there and can be removed. There's also a neat missile pod inside each of the shoulder pads that are revealed by flipping a panel up.
It looks like the head, however, is slightly different in the brow line and eyes in order to give Scourge a more menacing appearance, further enhanced by the light piping for the eyes.
Then there's "base mode" which I understand wasn't exactly much in the original toy, at least that one had air bellows, rockets and a disc launcher. This new version is pretty much, like all other recent base modes, just some panels splayed out so you can display it with the main figure.
So all-in-all pretty much what I expected - it's an OK toy. It doesn't blow my mind in terms of design or value, but at least it looks modern. I think I would have been happy buying just the cab, as the trailer really doesn't add anything, especially if it's Scourge, a character that may not be familiar to current generation of fans.
The weapons are an absolute joke, though.
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